Okay, this is pretty freaky. It turns out there's a tick that, if it bites you a bunch it makes you allergic to red meat.

Quote:

AbstractBackground: In 2009, we reported a novel form of delayed anaphylaxis to red meat, which is related to serum IgE antibodies to the oligosaccharide galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal). Most of these patients had tolerated meat for many years previously. The implication is that some exposure in adult life had stimulated the production of these IgE antibodies.

Objectives:To investigate possible causes of this IgE antibody response, focusing on evidence related to tick bites, which are common in the region where these reactions occur.

Methods:Serum assays were carried out using biotinylated proteins and extracts bound to a streptavidin ImmunoCAP.

Results:Prospective studies on IgE antibodies in three subjects following tick bites showed an increase in IgE to alpha-gal of twenty-fold or greater. Other evidence included i) a strong correlation between histories of tick bites and IgE to alpha-gal (χ2=26.8, p<0.001), ii) evidence that these IgE antibodies are common in areas where the tick Amblyomma americanum is common, and iii) a significant correlation between IgE antibodies to alpha-gal and IgE antibodies to proteins derived from A. americanum (rs=0.75, p<0.001).

Conclusion:The results presented here provide evidence that tick bites are a cause, or possibly the only cause, of IgE specific for alpha-gal in this area of the United States. Both the number of subjects becoming sensitized and the titer of IgE antibodies to alpha-gal are striking. Here we report the first example of a response to an ectoparasite giving rise to an important form of food allergy.

*Kidding! That is terrifying. Also, I am scared to see where the crazy lyme disease people go with it.

_________________If you spit on my food I will blow your forking head off, you filthy shitdog. - MumblesDon't you know that vegan meat is the gateway drug to chicken addiction? Because GMO and trans-fats. - kaerlighed

That's so messed up, I just read a magazine article in an allergic living magazine the other day talking about the tick-meat allergy problem. John Grisham, I think it is, talked about having it. The same magazine also mentioned "pork-cat syndrome", which is where people allergic to cats cross react to pork meat with an allergy. Bring on the reluctant vegetarian masses!